restored... sorta!

Hey guys!
I caught a bit of RAD of the ebay strain last week.
I'm recovered now, however the razors and some mother's mag polish arrived today in the mail.
I've been at it all day, and "restored" them by hand. More like cleaned up, because i went from 400-600 grit wet/dry, then 0000 steel wool, and finally copious amounts of polish and rags (my fingers are sore).

There's a residual linear scratches on the blade under the polish, but i'm not worried. i'm not sure if they count as proper "restorations" but i got 99% of the rust off, and a close-mirror polish. totally usable!

here are some crummy pictures for now.

Here's the first one. "life-long razor co". i actually shaved with it before polishing, and it shaved better than my dovo.
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5058/...3b090818_z.jpg

still some residue from rust near the tips, and some pitting. but completely usable. not bad for how much i paid for it!


second one is a August Ziege.
It's awesome, i really like the thumb-notch and the fact that it has gimping on both the top and bottom of the spine. just awesome.
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5096/...5473d39d_z.jpg

I sanded this one thoroughly too, and got rid of the scratches from the original grinding of the blade. i left a little higher up the bevel because i didn't want to remove too much material. also buffed the pins and the crud around the pins. it's just nice looking.

Third is a "Salamander works". best condition rust-wise. just a little near the pivot. didn't sand much at all, just the pivot. the rest was just polish and elbow grease. the bevel is all fudged up, but it's a wide and hollow blade, so fixable.
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5138/...f2716f64_z.jpg
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5300/...4f183b5e_z.jpg


Just polish and a little sanding. i'm going to leave it like this, i rather like it. not sure what the handle material is.



They aren't fully restored. they've still got scratches and pitting. but they look good enough, and perfectly usable!


what really bites is i just sent my dmt hones back for customer service, so no hones. 3 dull newly shiny razors and no shaving for a while! SUCKS!

Also, i have no idea what i'm going to do with so many razors.
Let me know whatcha think!

impressive. like you ive got to do everything by hand and it sucks.

It's not so bad if you're watching tv, or listening to music. What sucks is knowing that you can't get to the pivot area with any efficiency without snipping the pins. Re-pinning is too big a project for me now anyway.

Next time I'm wearing gloves and not polishing in my bedroom. It took a while to get the metal shavings, steel wool fibers polish off my pruny hands and to
Get the smell of polish out of my room so I can sleep.

I've got a dremel and a cloth wheel, but I have no idea what it does, and am reluctant to find out.

First of all, very nice work. I can tell you that I went through an awful lot of blades before they started coming out like that, and what I've found is that with few exceptions, there's no substitute for elbow grease anyway. There are certain stages that can be sped up with a dremel and EXTREME care, but you're never going to avoid spending a lot of time hand polishing unless you get a tumbler.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by dnullify

What sucks is knowing that you can't get to the pivot area with any efficiency without snipping the pins...

...I've got a dremel and a cloth wheel, but I have no idea what it does, and am reluctant to find out.

---

About those two bits I quoted, don't be afraid of re-pinning. It's MUCH easier than it sounds. The first few times I re-pinned I used some Dovo replacement pins that were already flattened on one side for easy pinning. What I discovered pretty quickly was that pinning is so easy that they weren't worth the trouble or the money. A little brass rod from the hobby shop and some washers from microfasteners, and you'll be pinning like a champ in no time. You can even get small ball peen hammers for VERY cheap from several suppliers.


That cloth wheel is for buffing. Used correctly, it can really take your hand polishing a step further. However, they have a nasty habit of catching on the slightest burr, or God forbid, on the edge. When that happens, you can easily turn your razor into a seriously lethal projectile if you don't have things secured properly. Dremels can be great for razors, and I regularly use mine to help with restorations, but you need a steady hand, a light touch, and VERY good safety habits because even a very small misstep can destroy your razor or worse.

Thanks for the info.
I don't think i'll try the dremel on any of these :-P.
I'll wait till i've got a real cruddy one before whipping it out to see what happens.

Nice looking razors you've picked up there. Congrats.